They came to their father is better rendered as “When they returned to their father” (Good News Translation). Since the word for came also suggests entering an enclosure, the German common language version (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch) even has “they came home to their father.” Since Jethro’s family would have lived in tents, one may also express this first sentence as “When they returned to the tent of their father.”

Reuel is considered by many scholars to be another name for Jethro. Good News Translation does not use the name Reuel but always identifies him as “Jethro” (verse 16) because it is the more familiar name. (This is one of the features of translation agreed upon by the Good News Translation translators, as explained in the Preface to Good News Translation.) Translators are encouraged to follow this same principle and use “Jethro” here.

How is it translates only one word that means “Why?” The question here suggests that the daughters watered the flock every day, and on this day they had come home earlier than usual.

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Again here introduces another episode. It also carries the meaning of “further” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), or even “Next” (New Jerusalem Bible). Good News Translation‘s “The LORD spoke to Moses again” is a good model. The LORD continues to speak to him, meaning “to Moses,” without any interruption, but a pause may be assumed for Moses to reflect on the miracle of the rod. Said here will be rendered as “ordered” or “commanded” in certain languages.

Put your hand into your bosom refers only to Moses’ hand, not to the entire arm. Into your bosom means “inside your robe” (Good News Translation), or “inside the fold of your cloak” (New English Bible). The cloak, or “robe” (Good News Translation), was a long cloth outer garment, or “coat,” that reached to the feet. Reference to the bosom simply locates the fold of Moses’ cloak above the waistband. In some languages it will be necessary to state this even more clearly. In such a case one may translate “Put your hand into the fold of your robe by your chest” or “Put your hand into the top part of your robe by your heart.” And he put his hand into his bosom may be condensed to “He obeyed” (Good News Translation) or “He did so.”

And when he took it out assumes either that Moses was instructed to remove his hand or that he did so from curiosity. It may be necessary to identify the it as “his hand” to avoid the idea of removing his cloak. Behold is a particle that indicates surprise. In some languages it is natural to bring out the idea of “to his surprise,” or to use an ideophone. (See the comment on ideophones at 2.6.)

His hand was leprous means that his hand was “diseased” (Good News Translation). Most translations today avoid the word leprous because it is scientifically inaccurate. Scholars are convinced that the Old Testament term is not to be identified as “Hansen’s Disease,” which is usually called “leprosy.” Rather it was any spot that would appear and spread, like a fungus, on clothing or on walls of houses, or on the skin of people.

As white as snow is literally, “like snow.” White is not in the Hebrew. Many translations have understood this to mean that the disease was white in color. However, it is more likely that it was flaky and scaly, like the disease known today as psoriasis. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh follows this interpretation but also retains the word snow: “encrusted with snowy scales.” Durham has translated it as “peeling and flaking.” The latter will be a good model for many languages.

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• The LORD gave another command to Moses, “Put your hand inside your robe [or, into your robe by your heart].” Moses obeyed the LORD’s command. To his surprise, when he took his hand out, it was covered with a skin disease [or, fungus], flaky and scaly [or, white] like snow.

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Two things are clear in this verse: The foremen of the people of Israel are here identified as “Israelite foremen,” especially since they are the ones who were beaten. (See verses 6 and 10.) And Pharaoh’s taskmasters are also the same “Egyptian slave drivers” mentioned earlier. However, it is not clearly stated that they were the ones who “beat the Israelite foremen,” since a causative passive form of the verb is used. Neither is it clear just how they were beaten, for the word that is used simply means to strike or hit. (See 2.11 and comment.)

Probably the taskmasters were the ones who at least caused the foremen to be beaten, for a chain of command is clearly indicated here. In some languages it is possible to express this as “The Egyptian slave drivers caused the Israelite foremen to be beaten,” but in languages that do not use the passive voice, it is probably safer to assume that the slave drivers did the beating and to translate in a similar way to Good News Translation. Whom refers to the foremen and them refers to the people of Israel. Thus the foremen had been set over the Israelite workers, that is, they had been appointed or “put in charge of the work” (Good News Translation) by Pharaoh’s taskmasters. And Pharaoh’s taskmasters in turn were responsible to the king.

The foremen are the ones who were asked the question, and here again it is probable that the taskmasters were the ones who asked it. Why have you not done all your task may be restated as “Why have you not completed your assigned work.” Of making bricks is literally “to make bricks.”

Today, as hitherto is a simplified rendering of a complex phrase in the Hebrew: “as up to now, both yesterday and also today.” The phrase “as up to now” (as hitherto) refers to the time before the new law of verse 7 was imposed, when the quota of bricks was evidently met. The phrase “both before and also today” compares today with yesterday, both days being after the law was imposed, when the quota was no longer met. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh tries to express all this as “Why did you not complete the prescribed amount of bricks, either yesterday or today, as you did before?”

Both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation, however, seem to interpret “yesterday” as referring to the time before the law was imposed, and thus contrast only before and after: “Why aren’t you people making the same number of bricks that you made before?” The question is probably rhetorical, for the answer was obvious. That is why Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch changes it into an exclamation, “You have again today produced too few bricks!” The foremen themselves weren’t actually making the bricks but were forcing other Israelites to do the work. So it is possible to render this question as “Why aren’t you [the foremen] forcing the workers to make as many bricks yesterday and today as they did before?”

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

This verse explains the purpose of verse 1. The channel of communication will be from God to the Pharaoh through Moses and Aaron. You shall speak means that Moses is to speak to Aaron, that is, he will “tell Aaron” what to say. All that I command you means that God will give specific commands to Moses, and then Moses in turn will “repeat” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) them to Aaron. And Aaron … shall tell Pharaoh completes the chain of communication.

In the Hebrew to let the people of Israel go is literally “and he will let go the sons of Israel.” Because of the “and,” a few translations interpret this as the result of the negotiations with the king, not as what Aaron is to say to him. New English Bible, for example, has “… he will tell Pharaoh, and Pharaoh will let the Israelites go….” Similarly Translator’s Old Testament has “Then Pharaoh will let the Israelites leave his land.” But this interpretation ignores what is said in both the preceding and the following verses. Most translations therefore interpret it as a summary of all the commands that will be communicated to the Pharaoh through Moses and Aaron.

Pharaoh is a title for “the king” of Egypt. The people of Israel were “the Israelites,” and go out of his land means “leave his country,” that is, Egypt.

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

The LORD did according to the word of Moses means that “Yahweh granted Moses’ prayer” (Jerusalem Bible), or “The Lord heard his prayer” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). The And at the beginning of the verse is only a connective word that may be omitted, or translated as “Then” or “So.” The following clause describes how the LORD removed the frogs.

The frogs died out of the houses suggests the frogs were still in the houses when they died. Good News Translation, on the other hand, simply describes which frogs were the ones that died without indicating where they were when they died: “the frogs in the houses, the courtyards, and the fields died” (Good News Translation). Contemporary English Version has “frogs died everywhere—in houses, yards, and fields.” Probably the frogs normally living along the Nile River did not die.

Literally the Hebrew says “the frogs died from the houses, from the courtyards, and from the fields.” The preposition here rendered “from” usually means “out of” or “away from,” and so some traditional translations have suggested that the frogs actually left the houses before they died (King James Version, American Standard Version). One recent translation even emphasizes this idea: “the frogs died away from the houses, the courtyards, and the fields” (Childs). But the same preposition is repeated with the courtyards and with the fields. This would limit the places where the frogs could gather before dying, and verse 14 suggests that many of them actually died in the fields. It is better therefore to follow Good News Translation and leave unanswered the question where the frogs were when they died.

The courtyards were open spaces within a permanent settlement or village, usually with walls or buildings around them. Some of them were on private property, such as the open courtyard of the king’s palace. The fields were the larger areas outside the villages, the open countryside.

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Behold is omitted in most translations, including New Revised Standard Version, probably because its force is included with the announcement, tomorrow. However, in many languages the equivalent of “All right!” or the more colloquial “Okay” will be natural style here. New American Bible, however, makes this explicit with the phrase “I warn you, then,” and Durham has “Just watch me.” The Hebrew word order, which is unnatural for English, is literally “Behold me, making rain, like time tomorrow, hail heavy very.” About this time is approximate but not precise. I will cause … to fall brings out the causative force of the participle, which is formed from the word for “rain.” In many languages “cause … to fall” will be quite natural style.

Hail consists of frozen rain drops that are harmful and destructive, especially when they are big, or very heavy. In some languages a “hailstorm” (Good News Translation) will be called a “rain of frozen rocks [or stones, pebbles].” A descriptive phrase may also be used for “hailstones”; for example, “I will cause large drops of frozen rain to fall.” The following clause makes it clear that this will be “a heavy hailstorm” (Good News Translation), with the words such as never has been in Egypt.

From the day it was founded follows the Hebrew quite literally, for the passive form is used for the verb meaning “to lay a foundation.” This refers, or course, to Egypt as a nation. And with the addition of until now, it covers “all its history” (Good News Translation). Since the force of the superlative is clearly implied, New Revised Standard Version has “the heaviest hail,” and New International Version has “the worst hailstorm.”

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

He went out refers only to Moses, and implies that he not only “left the king” (Good News Translation), but that he also “left the palace” (Contemporary English Version). And entreated the LORD uses the same word for “prayed” as verse 17. It may be helpful to note that Revised English Bible treats this verse as a dependent clause with the following verse: “When Moses left Pharaoh and interceded with the LORD, the wind was changed…” (similarly New Jerusalem Bible). Another way to express this is:

• When Moses left the king and pleaded with the LORD to take the locusts away, the LORD caused the wind from the east to….”

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .